| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | Why Canst Thou Not | | By John Danyel (1564–c. 1626) |
| | | WHY canst thou not, as others do, | |
| Look on me with unwounding eyes? | |
| And yet look sweet, but yet not so; | |
| Smile, but not in killing wise; | |
| Arm not thy graces to confound; | 5 |
| Only look, but do not wound. | |
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| Why should mine eyes see more in you | |
| Than they can see in all the rest? | |
| For I can others’ beauties view, | |
| And not find my heart opprest. | 10 |
| O be as others are to me, | |
| Or, let me be more to thee. | | | | |
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